“Hurry up you guys!” Sam yelled, but I could barely even see her through the trees now.

“Do you ever think this might be a bad idea?” I asked Syra.

Syra scoffed. “You turning into a pessimist on me?”

“No!” I said, “I’m all down for magic powers. I can’t wait for my turn. But it makes you wonder why this book was sitting in a garage sale.”

“Can we wait for the crisis of conscience until after I get magic powers?” Syra said. The ground was getting steep beneath our feet, I had to grab onto thin saplings to stop from sliding down the loose dirt into her.

“I guess,” I said.

“Besides, where else would you find an ancient book of magic than stuck on some dude’s attic?” Syra asked.

I snorted. “Seems like the sort of thing you’d keep better tabs on.”

“Guys! Hurry up!” I could hear Opi yelling, his voice sounding urgent. Me and Syra shared a glance, breaking into a run. The steep slope forced me into a strange sort of gallop, half falling, half jumping my way down the hill towards the river’s edge and flatter ground.

When I reached the water’s edge I glanced around quickly, looking for where Sam and Opi had gone. I didn’t have to look harder. Sam sat just a few metres away, giggling crazily.

“Can you see them, Mary?” she asked, holding out her arms.

“Uhhh….” I said, looking around. Syra crashed through the bush beside me and I inspected the surrounding, looking for what Sam saw.

She was sitting on the ground just before it turned swampy, surrounded by birch trees and and ferns. The river ran alongside us, a long, wide band of silver and blue. I might have been able to throw a rock to the other shore, but I’d always been bad at gym class. It was certainly pretty, but I didn’t see anything to quite explain the wide grins on her and Opi’s face.

“Uhh,” I gave Syra a look, and she shrugged at me. “I don’t see anything here, Sam.”

“You don’t see the fairies?” Opi asked, pointing out over the water. I frowned, looking out over the water. Something definitely flitted over the water. I recognized the four-winged, long bodies of dragonflies flitting over the ripples. Syra watched them like she was captivated.

“Um… Those are dragonflies,” I said, looking between Opi and Sam.

Sam’s brow furrowed slightly. “Between the dragonflies, Mary.”

I looked out again, squinting into the sparkling sun. Between the glittering light and rippling water, I thought there might be something moving. But every time I tried to follow the shapes, they resolved into a insect.

“I’m not seeing this,” Syra said, echoing my thoughts. “There’s bugs, certainly.”

“You can’t see them?” Opi asked.

“Well, we didn’t just do some secret magic ritual,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Yeah but-” Opi began, but he was cut off by Sam.

“You’re hiding?” she said, speaking into the air at her shoulder. I stared at the space myself, willing my mind to see what she did. I thought I caught a blur of motion, but I couldn’t quite make it out. Sam asked, “Can you come out?”

Her request didn’t make any fairy magically come into view. She huffed, carefully getting to her feet. She acted like she was in the world’s most awkward costume, stretching out wide to pusher herself up.

“Hang on a moment,” she said, walking to the water’s edge. I watched as Sam began to chase the black-winged damselflies on the river’s edge. Opi went over to help, chasing the frogs instead.

“So, odds that our friends went insane?” I muttered to Syra.

Syra turned to me wide-eyed. “Fairly high.”

“Great,” I whispered, just as Syra added a, “But-”

“But what?” I asked.

“Do you keep catching something just out of the side of your eye?” Syra said. “Something like fairies?”

Syra shrugged. “Or something…”

I frowned. Syra was forever the skeptic, if she thought she saw something… I turned my head away from the water, trying to watch the edge of my vision. I didn’t see anything different, I just felt like a moron.

Sam walked up to us with two cupped hands. “Here, maybe this’ll help,” she said, opening her hands slightly when she arrived.

I peeked inside, only to spot a damselfly inside. It was smaller than the dragonflies, with pure black wings folded up against it’s back and a body so iridescent and green it shone even inside her hands. But it was still a bug.

“Um,” I spluttered, looking at Sam. She’d been one of my oldest friend. I met her in grade 1, just a week after meeting Syra. And I was still clueless on how to tell her that was just an insect.

“That’s not a fairy,” Syra said, clearly not suffering from the same issue.

Sam peeked into her hands. “Oh come on!” she said loudly. “You promised to help. Do you want me to jar you?”

She held her hands out to me again and I reluctantly took another peek. Only this time, where the insect had sat, there was a tiny girl instead. Stuck to her back was the same set of black wings the damselfly had sported, and her emerald green hair was as long as she was, wrapped around a body as tall as a matchstick.

“Oh shit!” I yelped, my words overlapping with Syra’s even less appropriate ones. Sam glared at us both, turning back to the tiny fairy.

“They didn’t mean that,” she said soothingly, giving us a dirty look. “And you two, no swearing.”

“Sam, you are holding a fairy!” I said indignantly. “I think there are more important issues than my language!”

“I disagree,” Sam said. “These are my friends now. We should treat them with respect.”

I sighed, turning back to the fairy that she’d moved to her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Miss.”

Syra echoed my apology, adding in a small curtesy. “But you have to admit, that was a good curse”, she said mischievously. The fairy giggled with a noise that sounded like a glass bell going off.

Suddenly I noticed that the clearing was full of tiny wings and bodies. Where the dragonflies had flown before, I saw there was now a few armoured bodies that flitted between them. They looked like they were playing tag over the water, vanishing out of view at one moment and back in a second later. I was so distracted I barely noticed that the fairy on Sam’s shoulder was talking.

“Oh! I’m sorry Miss,” I said, focusing on the tiny voice amid the buzzing of wings. “I was… distracted.”

The fairy crossed tiny arms across it’s chest with a humph, flying up into my face. “You humans are all the same. We show you something cool and you forget all manners.”

Sam seemed to be barely holding in a laugh behind me and I felt my cheeks blush. “I’m really sorry.”

“She was just telling us her name,” Syra said, coming to my rescue. “Lady Calada Moonglimmer, of the Royal Ebony Jewelwing Legion.”

“Nice to meet you, Lady Calada,” I said, bowing my head slightly. The fairy dipped into a low curtesy, and I could see that despite my earlier assumptions, she was actually clothed beneath the long hair. Her dress was the same colour as her hair, with the tiniest black embroidery I could imagine. She was so precious I felt like a monster just to be in her presence.

“The fairies were telling me about their ball,” Sam said happily. “Before I caught Cala here.”

“Their ball?” Syra asked excitedly.

“Yes!” Cala squeaked, clapping tiny hands. “It will be an amazing feast! And then there will be dancing and celebrating all night long!”

I smiled patiently. “I think my parents might be upset if I don’t come home all night.”

“Oh, it’s not tonight!” Cala said, “It will be in 4 days, starting at sundown. And you’re all invited! Even your knight.” The tiny fairy gestured towards Opi, who was coming over looking dejected. His jeans and hands were covered in mud.

I tried to do the math on the fairy’s invite. Saturday night, it seemed. But I doubted my parents would let me go to a party on a Saturday night, even if it was thrown by fairies and not classmates.

Syra seemed to have a different idea. “We’ll be here!”

“Syra!” I hissed under my breath.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“My parents wouldn’t even let me go to Brooke’s pool party last year!” I said. “How am I supposed to get out for a fairy ball?”

Sam bit her lip. “I don’t think my parents would let me come either.”

“Oh but you must come!” Cala said. “There will be dancing and singing, and humans always bring the best treats!”

“Treats?” Opi asked, entering the conversation confused.

“Yes!” said the fairy, buzzing up in front of him on her black wings. “Like milk, and bread, and sweets!”

That must have been a popular topic. Suddenly other fairies were popping up all around us, adding in their favourite snacks.

“Strawberries!” yelled one with black hair and a yellow spot on her wings.

“And cake!” cried another, dressed in soft greys.

“Whipped cream!”

“Pizza!”

“Twinkies!” one yelled, pulling at my hair.

“Ouch!” I yelled, but two more tugged at my clothes and ear. I started backing away when they started pinching. I didn’t even notice when we’d all started running, racing back up the hill and out of the ravine.

My breath burned in my throat by the time we reached the meadow again. I didn’t dare stop, running with my friends until my legs burned and we collapsed on the sidewalk outside of the park. We sat there, panting for air until Sam met my eye. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Then Syra chuckled, setting us all off laughing until tears welled in my eyes. I leaned up against Opi as the laughter slowly died off.

“What was that about?” Opi asked, still chuckling.

His words set off Sam and me into another burst of giggles.

“They invited us to a party,” Syra said between laughs.

Opi laughed again, “A party?”

“Yeah,” I said, slowly recovering. “Some ball or something.”

“When?” Opi asked.

“See?” Syra said, giggling more. “Opi wants to go.”

I snorted, trying not to dissolve into more giggling. “No he doesn’t.”

“I didn’t say any of that!” Opi said. “I just want to know when!”

“Saturday!” Syra said. “Help me convince Mary to come.”

“Uhh…” he looked flustered. “What happens at a fairy ball? Do you even want to go, Mary?”

“There’s dancing!” Syra said, nudging me in the ribs.

I went a little red, “Opi doesn’t want to dance with me.”

“Sure I would!” Opi said quickly. I looked at him and he blushed too. “I mean, if you want to.”

“Um…” I stuttered.

“So it’s a date then, right?” Syra said cheerfully, looking between me and Opi.

Before Opi could reply, I pushed myself to my feet, pulling a still giggling Sam up as well. “We’ll see,” I said quickly, mouthing the words Help me to Sam.

“We should go before it gets dark,” Sam said, trying to stifle her smile. “Come on guys.”

We walked back quietly, punctuated by the occasional fit of giggles.

“So what’s new, Opi?” I asked, leaning close over the lines on the floor. “Any new magic powers? Can you see the leylines?”

Opi blinked, looking around the room. “Um… I think so?”

“What?!” Sam cried, looking around desperately. “I did this initiation a whole twenty four hours ago and I haven’t seen anything! What are they supposed to look like?”

“Well, look,” Opi said, pointing at a seemingly random spot of the ground. “Doesn’t that look like something?”

Sam stared at the ground where he pointed. “It looks like a shoe scuff, Opi.”

“What?” he replied. “No, beneath the shoe scuff. You don’t see that copper line?”

“No,” Sam said with a huff.

Opi gave her a weird look, then got onto his knees, brushing away the dirt that had accumulated on the rough wood floor. “Right here?” he asked, “It looks like someone spilled nail polish?”

“Looks like you’re crazy,” Sam said.

Opi frowned. “Mary, do the initiation, tell me I’m not losing it.”

I hesitated, looking at the bowl of water that sat beside me. Opi had collected way more dew than I had. Or maybe it had increased when it froze and unfroze. Everything was all set up and waiting. And yet…

“I promised Rou she could go next,” I said grudgingly. “Maybe Syra-”

Syra put up her hands. “I have to live with Rou. Let’s just wait for her.”

“Seriously, you can’t see this?” Opi said, gesturing at the ground to Sam.

“No!” she said. “Looks like you’re just making up shit.”

“Guys!” I interrupted. “Let’s go for a walk. Maybe we’ll find something clearer?”

The two grudgingly agreed and we headed out into the sunshine. Sam lived near a ravine, which we all agreed would be the most likely place to spot anything abnormal. Or at least, Sam thought that seemed likely. Opi was less convinced, claiming his leyline was pointing away from the ravine and towards downtown.

“Yeah, but you’ve already seen a leyline,” I said diplomatically. “We’re trying to find one for Sam now.” Plus the ravine was just a nicer walk, but I didn’t need to add that part. I didn’t need to see the same buildings I walked past twice a day.

Sam and Opi walked ahead, still arguing about what seemed like the most likely place to spot a ley line as Syra fell into step beside me.

“I’m still mad at you,” I grumped.

Syra’s smile fell. “For what?”

“You all left without me!”

Syra pouted. “Sorry. I was hoping if you couldn’t find us, you’d walk with Opi.”

“Well if you’d told me, I might have actually waited by his locker instead of the other end of the school.”

Syra let out a nervous giggle. “Oops.”

“Yeah oops,” I said, shoving her playfully with my shoulder.

She pushed back against me. “I guess that backfired.”

“You guys suck,” I said, but there was no bite in my words.

She smiled broadly at me. “So are you going to show me this sexy look?”

“No!” I said, a little too loudly. Opi and Sam looked back at us and I blushed.

Syra smiled broadly at me. “Lemme make it up to you,” she whispered into my ear, pushing me forward into them.

“Sam, come here,” she said in her sing-song voice. “I want to talk to you.”

Sam gave me a confused look as she slowed down, waiting for for Syra to catch up. I didn’t meet her eye as I hurried past her towards Opi’s side. Three months ago, I’d had Sam and Syra over for a sleepover. During typical girl talk, Sam had admitted to having a crush on one of the boys in our math class. And Syra had never been shy about talking about how cute the lead singer in her j-rock band was, though I always thought “Hyde” sounded like a weird name.

They’d pestered me about who I thought was cute, but I never liked crushing on some guy I’d never meet, let alone talk to. Beneath all the pressure, I’d admitted to having a small crush on Opi. Neither of them had let me live it down since, and Syra was particularly bad about trying to set us up. He certainly wasn’t as conventionally attractive as Meck from math class or Syra’s j-rocker But looking at his shaggy black hair and blue eyes, I didn’t think he was a terrible choice either.

“What was all that about?” Opi asked when I was alongside him.

“Nothing,” I said, my face burning red. “I think she just wanted to ask her about ley lines.”

“Oh,” he said, glancing back. “I wonder why she wanted Sam. She still hasn’t seen anything.”

“Did you really see one back there?” I asked shyly.

“Definitely,” he said. “It was clear as day outside of the clubhouse.”

“What did it look like?” I asked.

“Oh… Um, you know in sci-fi movies how there’s always those holograms?” Opi started. I nodded my head and he went on. “Okay, imagine something like that, where it’s sort of see-through and you can see what’s behind it. But also thatit’s what’s behind and everything else in front of it is see-through. Does that make any sense?”

“Not really,” I said honestly. “Does it like, tint things? You said it was coppery.”

“It was!” he said. “But I guess it was more orange when I got outside? I dunno.”

“Like the book cover?” I asked on a guess.

“Yeah, like that!” he said. “I thought I saw another one back there, but Sam didn’t see that one either.”

“Could it be because your aura was different?” I said, “Yours was definitely closer to orange than hers was.”

“Was it?” he said, pondering as we entered the grassy field of the ravine. “I thought hers was gold.”

“I dunno, it was more sunny than yours.” I plucked a tall blade of grass off the side of the path as we walked. “She glowed. You kinda… rippled. Like someone was trying to wrap you in ribbons of cellophane but it kept floating away.”

“That!” Opi said, pointing at me. “That’s what the ley lines looked like.”

“Like cellophane on the ground?” I asked.

“No, they aren’t really on the ground,” he said. “They’re inside the ground, only I can still see them, or something.”

“So what I’m gathering is that magic makes no sense, got it.” I said with a giggle.

“Seems that way,” Opi said, smiling.

“What about in here, have you seen anything?” I said, spreading my arms to gesture at the grassy field we were in. Milkweed pods had taken over the edge of the path. Most of them were still green and wet but a couple had gone grey, spilling floating seeds into the sky. When Sam and I were in Girl Guides, we’d learned how to identify the pods and how they were common food for monarch caterpillars. Then we’d collected some of the empty grey pods to turn into mice with googly eyes and pink felt and yarn.

Opi looked around curiously. “Um…”

“Opi, do you see it?!” Sam yelled behind us. I looked back to see her waving her arms about wildly.

“See what?” he yelled.

Sam pointed at the ground where it started to slope downwards. Opi and I both turned as Sam ran up to us, Syra following behind.

“That, you think?” Opi asked, “I guess it’s a bit sparkly. But it’s blue?”

“Just a bit, eh?” Sam said, elbowing him in the ribs. “Come on, let’s follow it.”

Sam took off running through the grass, heading towards the treeline. Opi shrugged and took off after her just as Syra caught up to me.

“So, do you see anything?” she asked, slowing down beside me. We stared after where the two of them had run off.

“Not even a little,” I admitted.

“Are you ready for tonight, Opi?” I asked, slamming my locker closed. I leaned up against it and tried to give him a flirty look.

“I think so,” he said, closing his locker. “I was up all night reading the book.”

“And collecting dew, I hope,” I said, smiling at him through what I hoped were sultry eyes.

“That too,” he said, “You look tired though, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

I straightened up immediately, trying to hide my blushing cheeks by busying myself in my backpack. “What? No, I’m fine. Everything is fine, I wouldn’t want to miss this!”

“You’re sure?” he said, smiling around his braces. “I know you have history last period and Mr Connor just assigned us a ton of reading tonight.”

“Psh, forget that,” I said, though inside I was panicking. Last night had been a late night and I was a slow reader. “I’m definitely going to be there to see your initiation ritual.”

“Great!” he said, looking a little flustered as the school bell rang. “I guess I’ll see you tonight?”

“It’s a date!” I said cheerfully as he waved goodbye. As soon as he turned around, I buried my face into my backpack.It’s a date? My forehead hit my history textbook through the waxed fabric. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

By the time I got to geography class, my cheeks were still burning red. I slide into my desk between Syra and Sam at the back of the classroom. The rest of the class filed in to find their own seats.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked, “You look flushed.”

“I’m fine,” I said, pulling out my notebook. “Everything is fine.”

“That means it’s not fine,” Syra said teasingly. “What’s up? Did you try and make a pass at Opi again?”

“No!” I said loudly, then quieter, “Maybe…”

“I knew it!” Syra crowed. “How’d it go? Did you try to give him the sexy eyes like I told you to?”

“Eww, Syra, where do you learn stuff like this?” Sam said, letting me dodge the question for a moment.

“In a magazine,” Syra said matter-of-factly before turning back to me. “So, did you try it?”

“Yes,” I muttered into my notebook.

“And…?”

“He thought I looked tired.”

Syra burst into laughter that made the teacher give her a dirty look. The teacher moved to the front of the class, attempting to shush everyone so she could begin her lesson. The classroom quieted until Syra was the only one still laughing. The other students turned to stare at us and I wished I could melt into my seat, but Syra seemed unconcerned with their glares. As her laugh faded into giggles, the teacher started up her lesson.

“Seriously, he thought you were tired?” Syra whispered to me.

“Yes,” I muttered under my breath, trying not to meet her eye.

“Show me your flirty look,” she demanded quietly.

“No.”

“Come onnn,” she whined a bit too loudly. The teacher glared at her and she sat up straighter, taking some notes. I thought it was over until one of her sheets of paper started nudging me in the elbow.

I glanced down at it, seeing her grinning beneath long, blonde hair. She poked me with the folded sheet of paper again. I rolled my eyes, taking the note.

Pleeeeeeease?

the note read.

NO!!!

I scribbled angrily, underlining it twice. I folded it and passed it back. I heard her pencil scratch a few times and the note landed back on my notebook.

Pretty please with sugar on top?

I rolled my eyes harder, glowering at her in a way that said Really?. Instead of taking the hint though, she looked excited instead. She grabbed another sheet of paper, scribbling a question and turning it my way.

Was that the look?!?

I furrowed my eyebrows, snatching up the page.

NO!!!!!

Syra frowned at me, grabbing the sheet back. She scribbled across it quickly, passing it to Sam behind my chair. I leaned over Sam’s shoulder as she unfolded the note.

Was that the look?!?

NO!!!!!

Saaaam, Mary’s being mean to me.

Sam rolled her eyes, shifting the paper at an angle so I couldn’t see her response. She passed it back behind me to Syra. Syra unfolded it so I couldn’t read it, audibly scoffing at her response. She angrily wrote her response, passing the note back.

Sam took the note, quickly peeking at the answer. Then she tucked it under her book, explicitly ignoring Syra and focusing on the teacher. Syra humphed at her, also turning to the teacher. I gave her a weird look, but she didn’t pass me anymore notes until the bell rang again.

“What did you tell her?” I asked Sam as soon as class was dismissed.

“She said she’d tell the teacher I was passing notes if I didn’t leave you alone,” Syra said bitterly. Sam nodded.

“You didn’t have to do that, Sam,” I said. “She wasn’t bothering me that much.”

Sam gave me a hurt look. “I was trying to help. You looked embarrassed and she was going to get us all in trouble.”

“Yeah, but that’s just what Syra does!”

Sam glowered at me. “Well excuse me then.” She turned around and stalked off through the hall.

“Does that mean I get to see the look now?” Syra asked happily. I stared at her stupidly.

“Uhhh…” I stammered. “I gotta get to class…”

I turned around quickly, walking toward my history class at the end of the school.

---

We always met by Sam’s locker after class, especially when we were going out together. I waited for the two after class, but they never came by. The halls were empty by the time I decided to check Syra’s locker, but they weren’t there either. I walked the four blocks to her house alone.

When I got there, I could see that the others were already in the clubhouse. I sighed, walking across the grass to the dark, wooden room. I could hear Opi talking.

“Does anything look different now, Sam?” he asked. “Are you seeing ley lines now?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “But I don’t know what they’d look like.”

“So how do we know it worked?”

“I’d say the glowing light was probably a good sign,” I said, slipping inside.

“Mary!” Opi said from the centre of the circle. “You’re here!”

“I said I would be,” I muttered, hoping he couldn’t see me blush in the dim light.

“”Syra said she wasn’t sure you were coming,” he said.

I gave Syra and Sam the evil eye. “Well maybe if they’d waited for me after school…”

Sam at least looked a little guilty but Syra just stuck out her tongue. I stuck my tongue out further and the two of us made increasingly stupid noises at each other.

“No bickering!” Opi said, pointing at both of us. “My turn for magic. Sit down and make nice.”

I sat down against the wall, sticking my tonuge out one last time as Opi closed his eyes, the same way Sam had. Unlike her, he didn’t hum. Instead, he began to chant quietly. He started with a monosyllabic noise, repeating it in the dark room. Nothing happened, however, until he switched to a different sound.

Slowly yet surely, he began to gather an aura as well. But where Sam’s had sparkled like sunlight, his wavered, flickering about him like waves of energy. It reminded me of a campfire, or the way heat rises off concrete in the summer. His aura glowed a deeper shade as well, a burnt orange colour like the leather book that sat before me.

He moved on from that chant quickly, cycling through another two words with no apparent effect. When he switched again, I noticed the water in the jar reacting again. Unlike for Sam, this time it froze, forming a tower of ice crystals in the centre of the bowl like an upside-down icicle. I watched it grow as he continued his chant.

Soon he fell silent. I peeked around behind him to see if there had been any other reactions around the circle, but I couldn’t spot anything. The candles still flickered in their bowl and the milkweed still lay in the cup. I did think the milkweed might be a little fluffier than it should have after a day in a sweaty hand, but nothing impressive like the tiny icicle palace being built on this side. Opi exhaled deeply, and suddenly the ice splashed back into water, the aura fading into the air above him.

“Well, did it work?” he asked as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Yes!” Sam said, clapping her hands together.

“Yes, but…” I said more cautiously.

“But what?” he demanded.

Syra chimed in. “It was different. There was nothing glittering this time, and the water didn’t jump around, it just froze.”

Opi frowned. “But I did exactly what the book said. Even better than Sam did, she didn’t do the chant.”

Sam blushed slightly. “I forgot the words.”

“Ugh, I have to memorize something?” I said, looking at the book.

“That’s what I said,” Syra complained. “But that shouldn’t be an issue for you, Miss Smarty Pants. You’re the one who aced every test this year.”

I snorted. “I hate memorizing. I study so I don’t have to memorize anything.”

“You’ll have to tell me how that works in History class,” Syra said teasingly.

“Stop bickering!” Opi said again loudly.

“Oh hush,” Syra said. “We’re having fun. This is fun, right Mary?”

“Yeah, it’s fun” I said good naturedly. “But I still don’t understand what we’re supposed to do.” I looking to Sam.

“It’s like, some sort of meditation thing,” Sam said, not wanting meet my eyes. “You have to focus on like, opening up these seven energy points in your body, starting at the base of your spine and moving up to your head.”

“And you’re supposed to chant something?” I asked.

“Well, I didn’t.” Sam shrugged. “I don’t know how picky it all is.”

“And I have to memorize all seven energy points?”

“Yeah, they have all these different meanings and names and a different chant. But I didn’t, and you guys seemed to think it worked.”

“I guess,” I said. “But yours was really different.”

Sam frowned. “If you say so.”

“Do you think they’ll all be different?” I asked Sam and Opi. They looked at each other and shrugged.

“Guess we’ll see when Rou gets home.”

“Shouldn’t we put this to a vote or something who goes next?” Rou said indignantly. Opi grabbed up the book, holding it close.

“Like that would work,” he said protectively, wrapping his arms around the book. “We’d all just vote that we’re the person who should go next.”

“I wouldn’t,” Sam said. “Though at this moment, I’d vote for whoever tells me what the hell happened!”

“It was awesome-” Rou blurted out, her words spilling over Opi’s.

“It worked-” he began. The two glowered at each other.

“Why do you want to go next anyways?” He asked Rou. The girl threw her hair back, running a hand through the electric blue strands.

“I need to go back to University tonight,” she said. “I’m just lucky my schedule let me stay home an extra day to see this. But I have my Calculus final tomorrow, and it’s worth like, 25% of my grade.”

Opi pouted at her. “Fine, I guess you can go next,” he said, passing her the book. I walked around the circle, relighting the candle as Rou started quickly studying. She walked into the circle, sitting down like Sam had.

“Damn it,” I said when I got to the dish with the dew drops.

“That doesn’t sound promising,” Rou said, looking up from the book.

I held up the glass bowl. “It’s not,” I told her. “The water dish is empty.”

“What!?” she yelled, jumping up. Everyone else gathered around the bowl as well to see what I’d already noticed. There wasn’t even a drop left in the dish.

“How did that happen?” Syra asked in a hushed tone.

I shrugged. “I didn’t even see it happen. I thought I saw all the water jump back into the dish when Sam’s initiation ended.”

We all looked at Sam and she gave us an incredulous look. “You guys still haven’t even told me what happened!”

Opi and Rou both started to explain, stumbling over each other again.

“Oh, shut up you two,” Syra said exasperatedly. “You got this crazy golden aura that radiated light. And then the room filled with these little glow bugs. Then the water jumped out of it’s bowl like the glowbugs were having a water balloon fight.”

“Your shadows got super creepy too,” I added. “They were really long and dark while it happened.”

Sam’s eyes got super wide while we talked, looking between us in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Didn’t you notice anything weird?” Opi asked as Syra and Rou nodded at her.

Sam’s eyes met mine. “Really Mary? I know you wouldn’t lie to me.”

I nodded as well. “It was really crazy.”

Sam nodded, looking a little bit like she might faint. “Okay… Okay that’s cool.”

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Do you see anything different?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…” she said, though I still thought she should sit down. “Nothing really looks different…”

She leaned up against the rough wooden wall of the clubhouse and I leaned beside her, looking at our friends.

“Okay, clearly we all want to do this,” I said. “But right now, we can’t do anything until we get some more dew. So why don’t we collect some more then get together again tomorrow? Maybe we can even get extra in case it vanishes again.”

“Wait, what about me?” Rou asked angrily.

“Well, when can you come back?” I asked. “Maybe we can get all of us done first, then do you when you come home next?”

“That’s just a fancy way of saying it’ll never be my turn,” Rou said. Her voice sounded a bit heavy. “You guys will all do it then no one will want to do it again when it’s my turn.”

“What?” Sam said. “We wouldn’t do that you, Rou!”

Her reassurances didn’t seem to help Rou that much. The older girl bit her lip uncomfortably. Even Syra seemed worried.

“When can you come home again?” Syra asked.

“Thursday,” Rou said. She sounded like she was trying not to cry.

“That’s practically the next day!” I said, but Rou just shrugged unhappily. “We could just get everyone done tomorrow and then the next day, we do you.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Rou said. “But then it’s never my turn.”

I sighed, “Rou, we wouldn’t do that to you!”

“It’s my ring,” she said aggressively, “If I take it home now then no one can do it.”

Opi gave her a dirty look. “So it’s you or nobody?”

“Shut up, Opi,” I snapped. “Okay, how about this. Tomorrow, we’ll do Opi. Then we’ll wait for you to come home on Thursday, and do you next. Then Syra can go, then me.”

“You can go first, Mary,” Syra said.

I gave her a questioning look. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I was the one who said it wasn’t really. I was totally wrong. I can wait.”

“You know we don’t really care about that…” I said but she was shaking her head.

“I’d just feel better if you went first.”

I shrugged too. “Well, if you don’t care…”

Syra smiled. Opi smiled too.

“So, I get to go next?” he asked, still clutching the book.

“Yeah, sure,” I said smiling. “But you have to collect your own dewdrops. Maybe you guys can help too.”

Opi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I think I can manage that.”

“Good,” I said, handing him the bottle, “because it’s really annoying.”

I looked at Rou. “Does that work for you too?”

She still looked uncomfortable but nodded at me. “I guess so. Don’t break my ring though!”

“We won’t,” I promised. “Or at least, we’ll try not to.”

I looked at the dish that had held the dew drops to make my point. Rou winced as she looked at it. “Well, only the water vanished though, right? Even the candle is still burning.”

Sam nodded. “I wonder why only the water reacted…”

I shrugged. “It’s literally magic.”

Syra giggled but Opi looked thoughtful. “I wonder if it’s in the book…”

“Well, you’ll have a chance to study it,” I said. “Looks like you’re up next.”